ESSENTIAL REFERENCE PAPER B
THE FINANCIAL STRATEGY 2011/12 to 2014/15
What is it and why is it important?
1 The medium term financial strategy is a statement of the objectives and
principles that underpin the Council's approach to managing its finances
looking ahead over a period of three years or more. It sets out the
framework within which the Medium Term Financial Plan is developed and
reviewed.
2 The strategy is important because the council must ensure that its plans
for services are affordable and sustainable in the light of the resources it
can reasonably expect to be available. Included in those resources is
income from council tax. The future is inherently uncertain and the
strategy considers that uncertainty and how the council can mitigate the
risks.
3 Since the medium term strategy was approved in July 2009 the need to
address the imbalances in public finances has become more acute with
proposed measures characterised by the new government as ones which
“would affect our whole way of life”. It is likely that along with all other local
council’s East Herts Council now faces a period of severe spending
constraint. The extent of that constraint will become clearer in the autumn
of 2010 following the outcome of the spending review.
What outcome is the strategy designed to achieve?
3. The objectives of the strategy are
 To ensure the Council is well placed to meet uncertainty about the
level of funding that the government will be able to provide
acknowledging that such funding will be constrained.
 To ensure that tax payers, service users, partner agencies and
Council employees are aware of the funding issues faced by the
council and are given the opportunity to help shape the Council’s
planning
 To ensure that funding is available to meet the future revenue and
capital needs of the Council as they arise
 To maximise the effective use of resources by annual review of the
Council's resources corporately and by redirecting funding to higher
priority areas as identified in the Corporate Plan and service plans.
 To ensure funding is available for priority service improvements.
 To inform service planning and ensure that the immediate and
future financial implications of all decisions are taken into account in
a timely manner and in the context of the Council’s overall financial
situation.
 To minimise volatility of council tax and taking one year with the
next ensure that increases are within any limits set by the
government, at least consistent with, and ideally lower than, those
of similarly placed authorities
 To manage risks including keeping adequate reserves to ensure so
far as is reasonably possible that service delivery is not disturbed
by calls on funding from short term unforeseeable events
 To achieve value for money from all spending
 To be aware of and take up funding opportunities where these are
consistent with the Council’s objectives and where the obligations
taken on are manageable by the council and commensurate with
the sums received
 To achieve efficiency in the use of resources including invest to
save opportunities by taking into consideration relevant life cycle
costs
 To secure, maintain and renew a stock of physical assets
consistent with the Council’s corporate priorities as detailed in the
Asset Management Strategy
 To ensure the Financial Strategy and all the Council's other
strategies are consistent.
What principles underpin the strategy?
4. The principles underlying the strategy are those of sustainability,
transparency and consistency as evidenced by :
 The Council will adopt a prudent approach to assumptions and
forecasts of its income and spending including assessment of:
o The resources available to it from government and other
external sources
o Changes in in-put prices both generally - including pay - and
specific price changes where these have significant impact
on individual services by means of indexation clauses in
contracts
o interest rates and the growth of the wider economy so far as
these affect the Council’s ability to generate income from
charges
o the council tax base and rates of council tax collection and of
other incomes.
o investment returns and other factors as advised by the
scheme’s actuary, such as longevity, affecting pension costs
o its ability to generate cashable efficiency gains
o exposure to VAT and other tax liabilities
o exposure to uninsured risks
 The council will establish spending plans consistent with its forecast
of income other than where existing reserves are planned to be
used
 The council will not commit to ongoing spending from incomes of a
one off nature without a clear exit strategy in the absence of
alternative funding
 The council will limit its borrowing by reference to CIPFA’s
prudential code and will make a prudent provision for repayment in
accordance with that code.
 The council has adopted and will keep under review a policy on the
level of reserves to ensure adequate but not excessive reserves.
 The council has adopted and will review a charging policy that is fair
in terms of
o different service users,
o the call on the tax payer as against the service user
o competition with other providers
 The council will maintain sound financial management practices set
out in Financial Regulations and Financial Procedure Rules
 The Council will maintain the accounts in accordance with relevant
codes of accounting practice and in particular CIPFA's BVACOP
and financial planning will be consistent with those requirements.
 The strategy will be reviewed annually.